Word Origin & History

stamina 1676, "rudiments or original elements of something," from L. stamina "threads," pl. of stamen (gen. staminis) "thread, warp" (see stamen). Sense of "power to resist or recover, strength, endurance" first recorded 1726 (originally pl.), from earlier meaning "congenital vital capacities of a person or animal," also in part from L. application to the threads spun by the Fates to determine the length and course of one's life, and partly from a fig. use of L. stamen "the warp (of cloth)" on the notion of the warp as the "foundation" of a fabric.

Example Sentences for stamina

The Harvard crew, although it had started out so beautifully, had not the stamina to endure the strain.

Prepare the stamina from this piece of wax by snipping the proper number.

Excesses of any kind are indulgences, and it is easy to fall into them if we have not built up our stamina to resist.

I stood him for two years altogether, and then I guess my stamina broke.

The review was evidence, at least, as to our number, stamina and equipment.

For the first time, my stamina seemed inclined to succumb before it.

That sirocco, the worst of many Italian varieties: who shall calculate its debilitating effect upon the stamina of the race?

She loathed herself for her weakness, her lack of stamina, her cowardice.

The morale and stamina of the troops had been tried in every way.

Will they, in the course of generations of dolce far niente, lose their stamina?